The Steel Guitar Forum

So, I'm a newbie, but a sweet little old lady in our uke group has loaned me her late father's lap steel. She said he "made it himself". I know he was using it during WWII, but no idea how much earlier it might be. My local luthier says it's probably a Ric that he made a new wood body for. I figured someone here might know what it actually is.
The tuning machines were replaced by me as the originals were worn out.

Thanks for any info you might have.
Dennis

Certainly looks like some Ric parts there, but whatever it is, I like it! How's it sound?

Those "carousel" volume knobs were used by Epiphone. Some of their earlier lap steels had horseshoe pickups as well. The side view of the pickup coil doesn't look like any Rickenbacker I've seen but I'm no expert. Could be a rewind anyway. I don't recognize any of the other hardware. It's likely that the chromed horseshoe magnets came from another guitar like a Rickenbacker or Epiphone but the rest of it could be homemade. I'm sure that Noah Miller will weigh in with some useful info.

Bill Groner wrote:And a lefty!

Well, strung that way now!